


Longtime partners

by Iniren



Category: Star Trek: TNG - Fandom
Genre: Canon, Episode Tag, Episode: s07e08 Attached, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-15 17:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18674398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iniren/pseuds/Iniren
Summary: Two friends realize they've been closer than either have cared to admit and poke around at those feelings.





	Longtime partners

**Author's Note:**

> It started out as an observation that nothing revealed in this episode particularly required telepathy, especially with people who are familiar. Plus I found the ending of this episode depressing. Just a few references to lines from the episode. Hope you enjoy.

"Thank you for your assistance, Doctor. Please convey to your superiors that the Federation will formally cease contact with your people per their request, but also that your expert assistance has been most valuable and appreciated." The Captain watched the Prytt doctor nod as she shimmered away on the transporter pad. Now he turned to meet his equally stunned CMO and discuss the implants that had been removed.

"I still can't believe it.... That it wasn't telepathy?" The redhead frustratedly exclaimed surrounded by assorted PADDs, reviewing the medical data from their exams before and after the removal. She should have insisted the devices be left for further study, but she had to agree to relinquish them for the Prytts' assistance in removing them.

"Beverly," he sighed, "When you think about the security ministry's functions and purpose for detaining us, the doctor's explanation makes sense." The consultant explained the implants did not create telepathy, that subjects being able to read one another's thoughts would allow them to plan or align stories secretly. The implants ability to disrupt subjects ability to self-censor information and bound subjects together by triggering unpleasant symptoms was strategically advantageous from a security standpoint. The devices served as both shackle and interrogator.

The doctor sighed, "I can see in the scans now that I know where to look, but I still can't believe it... or what it means."  The Prytt consultant commented in the testing phase, volunteer subjects had mentioned the sensation of telepathy, but only volunteers who were closely-related family or longtime intimate partners.

He looked at her gently, "Is it really so hard to believe? We have known each other a very long time and been through a lot together. Surely that qualifies as 'intimacy.'"

"Jean-Luc. You know I'm not talking about the mechanics of how these work. It's everything we said and what that means."

It meant they knew each other well enough that on some subconscious level they knew they loved each other and had been unwilling or unable to say anything. Without any telepathy, they could read each other's words, expressions, and silences with remarkable accuracy. With unplanned technical intervention all those unspoken words were suddenly brought out and laid their extremely private hearts exposed.

"Well we should at least celebrate our homecoming. I believe somebody was very hungry on Kes-Prytt. Perhaps dinner in my quarters at 1900?"

The doctor nodded, "That sounds good. Right now, we could both use a little rest." _From each other_ , she continued in her thoughts. Being tethered to one another was exhausting when they carried so much history between them. Besides she'd slept poorly down on the planet, apparently only imagining her companion's interesting dreams.

===

The old friends moved from the table to the sofa to continue their conversation. Both happy to be home and without their implants. They'd somehow spent their meal talking about trivial matters and avoiding all the personal information they'd shared on the planet's surface. Both very intently studying the contents of their respective glasses, trying to delay the conversation that started in sickbay.

Jean-Luc started first. "I received a communication from the Federation Council apparently we received a letter demanding Federation membership from the Kes, while also receiving a letter from the Prytt Alliance thanking us for respecting their privacy and apologies for any inconvenience..."

"...for kidnapping Starfleet officers, accusing them of spying and implanting them with mind-altering devices?" continued an irritated Beverly. "I suppose as far as Federation membership and resolving their internal conflict it isn't an auspicious beginning."

"Well, perhaps there's a new beginning in the future." His face softening a bit, eyes returning to the in-depth study of the wine his glass, he continued, borrowing the words from the Prytt physician, "What about new beginnings for 'longtime intimate partners'?"

He surprised her. Beverly wasn't anticipating him starting the conversation- this conversation. She was flooded by a myriad of conflicting feelings: friendship, grief, professional distance, affection, attraction. _I haven't had time to think about this, it's so sudden... No it's not...we were only verbalizing things we already knew on some level._

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

Jean-Luc regarded her as she expertly avoided his gaze. He knew her well enough to know she was collecting her thoughts, but it was clear she was collecting something altogether more unwieldy. She was collecting her feelings.

In his life, Jean-Luc has prided himself on his impartiality and self-discipline. He could face any challenge: disapproving family, aggressive foes and emotional entanglements, but this was excruciating. He was not inexperienced with women, but this woman was different. She was the one circumstance where he could not command his heart to get in order. No matter how he try to deny it - he loved her.

He had considered her unavailable when he caught himself thinking a little too long about the way Jack's girlfriend moved through a room, the way he looked forward to her visits during shore leaves, the way she felt when she hugged him good-bye. He considered her off-limits, when he saw her dressed for her wedding and later when he met his best friend's wife and their new baby. He considered her lost when he brought home Jack's body and saw the grief in her eyes. For years he punished himself for these memories and for that moment of weakness while grieving his friend, when he had the flitting thought, _Now she's free..._

_Now she really is free, she's admitted an attraction, Perhaps the memories don't bind her ... or me._ He moved slowly and silently beside her on the couch and after what seemed far too long, he spoke. "Beverly?"

She smiled her lop-sided smile as she looked up and softly replied, "I'm sorry. I'm just not quite sure what to say."

Beverly paused, waiting for the communicator to chirp or a red alert klaxon would go off, but none came today. She was suddenly struck that all those previous interruptions kept her from really working through all her own fears. She liked talking things through and since she never could speak of these things, she never really wrestled with them - her loneliness as an orphaned child, being that tap-dancing teen with the odd grandmother, how hollow and yet familiar it felt after Jack died. She'd walled off all those feelings, the way the body walls off an infection it can't beat.

She softly said, "I guess what I really want is guarantees. Guarantees that we'll work, that we can build a life, that I won't lose you. Sometimes it's safer being alone."

He nodded silently. Softly he said, "Beverly, we've been through a lot together. Nothing could change what we have. Perhaps we shouldn't be afraid to explore these feelings."

"Maybe we should be afraid." She sighed with a gentle smile. "I'd better go, we have a lot to think about."

Beverly rose to leave and he followed, but at the door she turned back to him as if to ask a question, but instead she leaned in slowly and kissed him. Not the friendly, platonic kisses they'd shared and not the perfunctory farewell kisses of provincial France. She kissed him with purpose, as if to try on their newly discovered feelings. He cautiously reciprocated, attentively matching her intention, melting into one another. Breaking apart, she looked at him and with her mischievous eyes and wordlessly told him, _If we're going to make a decision one day, we really should have all the facts._

As the door closed between them, they both smiled with satisfaction, their hearts both a little more open, assured of their love for one another. One day... perhaps. Tonight they were satisfied knowing they would undoubtedly be dreaming some very interesting dreams about each other.


End file.
